Couple comes home to publich 'good news' paper

Family brought Jimmy and Rhonda Sexton back to their hometown of Neosho in 1997. Now the couple is building a business, which they hope to one day pass on to their children.

The Sextons are owners of the Neosho Post, a weekly newspaper they founded in March 1998.

Jimmy Sexton serves as the paper's publisher and editor, while his wife sells advertising and keeps the books.

"We're definitely a small mom-and-pop newspaper," Jimmy Sexton said. "I would like to see this become a family business one day. My 3-year-old is already showing signs of being a publisher. I think my younger daughter (who is 1 year old) will make a great editor."

The desire to raise their children in their hometown was the reason the Sextons returned to Neosho, after several years away. Both are graduates of Neosho High School Jimmy Sexton graduated in 1986, Rhonda Sexton in 1988.

After graduating from Crowder Community College in Neosho, Rhonda Sexton made her way to Dallas. Following his graduation from Missouri Southern State College in Joplin, Jimmy Sexton was hired by the Boone Group newspaper chain at its Baxter Springs, Kan., newspaper. He was then transferred to a newspaper in Texas, and it was there that he and Rhonda began dating.

Another transfer took the couple to Miami, Okla., where Jimmy Sexton became associate publisher of the Miami News-Record. While living in Miami the couple married and began putting down roots.

However, after 11 months, Boone Group transferred Jimmy Sexton to Mississippi, where they lived another 11 months before being transferred back to Texas.

After the couple had their first child, they decided frequent moves would not be conducive to family life.

"When we decided to move back to Neosho, it was because this was where we wanted to raise our children," Sexton said. "It wasn't because we wanted to start a newspaper, it just worked out that way. Newspapering is in my blood," he added.

The Post reports to one audience, Sexton said the residents of Neosho.

The broadsheet newspaper, solely owned by Jimmy and Rhonda Sexton, is published each Wednesday and is delivered by mail, as well as sold in racks located throughout town.

Since its debut, the newspaper has grown steadily, boasting readers in 30 states and three foreign countries. Total subscriptions are at 1,800 along with several hundred sold out of racks.

"When we started this newspaper, we wanted to do something different," Jimmy Sexton said.

"We wanted to give people only good news. We have even started calling ourselves The good news newspaper.' There's plenty of places people can read about the bad stuff in the world," he added.

The Neosho Post includes features on area people, features on local history, news from area churches, school news, sports and local columnists,

"Our readers have a strong voice in what goes into this newspaper," he said. "After all, it's really their newspaper."

As the business has grown, so has its headquarters. The newspaper started in the back of a relative's cellular store. Quickly, though, it moved to an office on the square in Neosho.

Eventually, the Sextons bought a building just off the square. The Neosho Post's office is downstairs, and the upstairs has been converted into an apartment for the Sexton family.

"It's been a great arrangement. In the evenings I can leave the office, go upstairs and eat with my family, and play with my kids for a few hours," Jimmy Sexton said. "When they go to bed, I go back downstairs and work for awhile."

The Post competes with two daily newspapers that cover Neosho; the Neosho Daily News and the Joplin Globe.

"There's plenty of room for our newspaper," Jimmy Sexton said. "We're a niche product. We're really a companion to the other papers, I think we compliment each other," he added.

The Sextons do, however, want the Post to evolve into a twice-weekly newspaper, and to eventually become a daily.

"It all takes time. Right now I think that we are a better-than-average weekly, but we're not good yet. As we get better we'll look at going twice a week. We're just not quite ready yet."